Dedicated to the propagation of a better understanding among all the peoples of the earth, and of those who are not of earth.

THE SEARCH FOR PEACE

This issue of Understanding magazine marks the beginning of its 15th year of publication. Since it is also the first issue of the new decade, it seems an appropriate time to restate and to clarify the reasons for its existence, and the purposes of the Understanding organization which it serves.

It has been said by many that Understanding Inc., is an organization dedicated to the achievement of `Peace on Earth,’ and while this, assumption is quite correct, it should be pointed out that we do not follow the `Mod’ pattern now being followed by so many peace seeking organizations or individuals. We do not march in angry protest, even when injustice is clearly seen. We do not incite to riot nor council violence, nor shout obscenities at those who disagree with us. We do not believe that we can achieve peace by declaring war on the establishment (and most of our neighbors). All of these expedients have been employed since the dawn of history, without having had any noticeably uplifting effect on humanity, and without having created any practical road to peace.

For centuries men have cried Peace! Peace! and there has been no peace.

It has been made clear to us that peace can never be reached by any

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direct approach, no matter how great the desire of humanity, since peace is not a prime entity, but is a condition which can exist only in an environment of complete understanding. Peace is, in fact, an automatic by-product of complete understanding, just as war is the ultimate by-product of misunderstanding.

The only practical or meaningful way to work for peace is therefore, to work toward the establishment of complete understanding between nation and nation, and between all men and that greater power and intelligence which pervades and controls all nature.

Understanding Inc. therefore seeks those points or areas of mutual agreement which can be accepted by all men as seeds which may grow into greater mutual understanding. As most of our readers know, we do have a specific and somewhat detailed proposal for a world wide congress to consider and to document the area of agreement in the Social Science. We feel that this congress will come into being within the next five years. If it does and if it is successful the event will be far more significant and beneficial to mankind than our landings on the moon or any other event that has occurred since the birth of Christ.

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IS ESP PRACTICAL?

With much of science fiction increasingly becoming fact, until we now have our astronauts performing actual roles on the moon’s surface just as would characters in a Ray Bradbury story, what about the ever fascinating but still obscure field of ESP? Is extrasensory perception to be left behind, unmentionable except in the context of the most occult circles, or is there a ghost of a chance that it too may turn out not only to exist but to have its practical application awaiting?

Many have long been convinced that the existence of ESP is well documented in case histories, where it may, however, go under other names such as hunch, woman’s intuition, or just dreams. But perhaps some of the answer hinges on what we mean by “practical.” Mystics would call mysticism practical, because it is opened up to all the possible connections to be made through man. There may indeed be more under the heavens than even philosophy has dreamed of, etc.

Perhaps the earliest possible application of ESP goes back to the references to primitive people’s resort to it to transmit messages from

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hilltop to hilltop or stone observation tower to tower, across the distances. Of course there may have been aids in getting the message across, such as drum beats or fire as tangible signals. But there remains the possibility that a “primitive” people, its energies less dissipated, and less dispersed and its needs less artificial than our own, could focus the power of energy waves powerfully enough and with enough intensity and economy of purpose as to succeed in both their transmission and reception.

This is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Only recently science has been able to recognize and record the difference in brain waves when disciplined persons such as yogis are in a state of “transcendental meditation.” In an article entitled “Yogis Alter Body Metabolism in Tests,” datelined New Delhi, (Reuters) the New York Times of June 19, 1969 explains how the yogi-in-the-box test is carried out in a soundproof room at the science institute

The yogi has 12 electrodes attached to his head linked with an electroencephalograph, which registers his brain waves. Four other electrodes, on his arms, and legs, record his pulse. Other machines note his skin temperature, his breathing and the content of the air in the box.

From such experiments, we can conclude that brain waves do seem capable of being subjected to alteration. Organs and functions of the body which we thought to be under the autonomic nerve system do seem to be capable of being subjected to voluntary control through rigorous training.

An outstanding contemporary American expert on ESP, by the name of Sherman, has been convinced of the “practical” possibilities of ESP from the age of 18, when he received a strong mental image or feeling which translated into a warning to him not to turn on the lights. Luckily, he followed his “hunch” and saved himself from being electrocuted by power lines that were down: the formal warning by a messenger followed soon, his house being the last on the messenger’s route through an endangered area.

Sherman foresees many “practical” possibilities for ESP including its use by highly trained and disciplined astronauts on space missions, perhaps as a necessity to communicate back with Earth in case of other power failures. In fact, he and others already suspect the Russians

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of advanced experimentation in this field, as un-materialistic and un-Marxist as that may sound. Russian scientists are believed merely to have changed the designation of such a type of training of their astronauts to “biological,” and then broadened it to include yoga exercises and methods of focusing and holding on to the consciousness long enough to bring it to bear on a single point. This on the theory that such training offers to astronauts the best possible chance of surviving. And possibly, of winning, in case of unfriendly competition for Space-though perish the thought-through influencing the course of another ship.

Evidently, there has also been some American participation in research through science. Twelve years ago two American scientists, Dr. M. A. Wenger of the University of California at Los Angeles and Dr. B. K. Bagchi of Ann Arbor, Michigan went to India to study the effects of yoga. Their studies then encouraged Indian scientists to continue, and the team is now headed by Dr. B. K. Annand and Dr. Gulzar Chhina. Team findings include the following, still according to the New York Times article carrying the Reuters dispatch from New Delhi

Some yogis can withstand cold, stop their heart sounds or alter their bodily metabolism through transcendental meditation. One yogi was able to relax so completely that his consumption of oxygen was drastically reduced-something that could prove vital for an astronaut running out of air.

Also pointed to is the fact that the research being carried out now at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences could have considerable significance for the survival, psychological and physical, of miners trapped underground or sailors facing the risk of death by exposure on icy seas.

So far, perhaps, it is too early to expect “proofs” of the practical application of ESP to amount to much. But it does look as if the left hand’s way of knowing through intuition and the right hand’s way of knowing through testing and measurement are groping in the same direction. The Sign of the Times will be, possibly, their meeting in a firm and friendly handclasp.

– Juliana Lewis

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APOLLO II LUNAR SAMPLES

“A giant molecule-by-molecule search for life, organic compounds and the history of the solar system,” has begun at the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California on the four pounds of moon rock and dust brought to earth by the crew of Apollo 11.

Science writer Jim Hazeltine reports on these studies in the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune of October 2, 1969.

Dr. Hans Mark, Director of the Ames Research Center, compared the lunar samples with the biological specimens Darwin brought from the Galapagos Islands. As Darwin’s samples revolutionized the thinking of man so may these lunar samples.

Mr. Vance Oyama, Chief of the Life Detection Branch, fully expects to find evidences of terrestrial life contamination on the samples, but is hopeful that if there are minute moon organisms in the moon rock he will be able to distinguish them from the earthly contaminants. Moon organisms, even if not recently active, may have been dormant for millions of years. So, with a staff of 16 members, Mr. Oyama has prepared 2000 Petri dishes with 324 different environments in an effort to promote growth of any possible form of moon life. However”, he adds, “It is possible that life will be there but invisible to us because of our terrestrial bias as to what life should be like.”

It is the responsibility of Dr. William L. Quaide, NASA Amen Research Center geologist, to sort out and classify a vial of moon dust in an attempt to learn of the cosmic forces at work for ages on the moon’s surface. His preliminary investigations indicate that the moon has had a much more complicated geological history than postulated by most scientists.

Chief of the Center’s Chemical Evolution Branch, Dr. Cyril Pannamperuma, will be searching out possible proteins, nucleic acids and carbohydrates which are the building blocks of life on earth. If found, these particles could be, in all probability, widely distributed throughout the solar system and thus “chances of life arising on another planet at some time are greatly increased.” Dr. Ponnamperunia believes that “if such compounds are found in the lunar soil they may provide important clues as to how life began on earth because of their great antiquity and unchanged state.”

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Reports on the Ames Research Center investigations are expected to be released to NASA sometime in January, 1970.

Then will begin new investigations-of the samples from the Apollo 12 expedition-and indications are that the materials are not identical with the first samples! So, the conclusions from these first studies can be tentative at best.

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THE GENIE NAMED GOD

ONCE upon a time there was a very powerful genie named God. No one could tell exactly when he had had a beginning. He had been sitting upon his golden throne as long as any of the oldest men of the world could remember. He was so powerful that the ocean would divide at his command and the wet sand could look up at the sky it had not seen since it had come down from the hills to lie there. He was so attentive to his duties that not a sparrow fell from the sky that He did not see it; and not a voice was raised to Him that He did not hear it. He was so kind that He had told everyone: “Ask and it will be given you.” Man always got his three wishes worth plus a bonus at Christmas time and Easter. He was so wise that no one had been able to trick Him into disappearing within a tiny bottle in a puff of smoke, and, although He did not write it Himself, he had directed others; and they had written a Book that was read and revered everywhere that the wind could blow. And yet, it was the same as it had been ever since time began. Each new generation thought IT was the smartest one. The young listened to their seers and wise men, and some chose not to believe in Him.

One bold and adventurous youth declared to his mother, “Today I am a man and I shall go and see for myself!” His mother, as mothers always do, kissed him good-by and watched him from her doorway as he left.

The young man marched right up to the big, heavy, golden gates wrought with brilliant jewels in intricate ornamentation. They towered far above him. “Must take a lot of horsepower to draw open these gates,” the youth thought. Before he could raise his hand to knock, the massive gates swung open easily before him. The young man was reminded of the power of God and His all-seeing eye.

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The young man worked his way through the crowds of robed figures. It seemed that each gown was more beautiful than the last. No one tried to stop him, although it must have been obvious that he was not one of them. They smiled kindly, stepping aside to let him pass, and going on their way with composed and happy faces. The youth thought, “They don’t need to step upon another to get where they are going.”

He came at last to God’s dwelling place. At least he could remember one of his Sunday school lessons, for he entered “by the narrow gate” (Matt.: 6-13) which swung open as the other had before. He found himself in a beautiful room filled with light. One immense skylight arched high overhead spotted with sparkling stars and the many colored planets. He recognized the emerald green of Earth and the red of Mars. Wisked over the surface of the ceiling were the finest, sheerest silk and chiffon gauzes, billowing and changing in color as the light touched them. It was like the ping that announces the morning dew; ever changing, softly glowing, and backed with the complete deepness of the heavens.

“Dig that crazy ceiling,” said the youth and, although his words seemed out of place, his eyes were opening to see.

In the blink of an eye, a table appeared set for one with a savory meal; and a comfortable chair. A voice said, “The birds of the air neither sow nor reap; yet God feeds them.” The youth was reminded of the attention, awareness, and kindness, of a Genie; who would know that there was one among them who had need to replenish himself.

When he had eaten, the table disappeared as quickly as it had come. He rose from his chair hastily and it too vanished. He turned around a little bit dismayed but soon looked forward expectantly, for he who feeds at God’s table gains courage. “What else do you wish?” asked the voice.

Almost immediately God appeared in all His Majesty. His feet touched the earth and His head the clouds. The youth strode up to the foot of God. The knees were yet above him. He rapped importantly upon God’s toe, stepped back, cupped his hand about his mouth, and yelled as loud as he could. “Wake up, God! Time’s a wastin!”

“I never sleep,” said God, while a smile tried to brighten the face that was attempting to be stern at the brashness of this small one. “And, by the way, I don’t need a hearing aid. I notice the song of every little bird, and I also have all eternity to listen to them.”

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The youth stepped back that he might see into the face of God. “That isn’t what I mean. I mean like-like the language in your Book, it’s squaresville, you know.” He slapped one hand to his forehead in despair. “I don’t know how to tell you what I mean.”

God’s eyes creased at the corners, “but you are here, trying. I know, that it’s hard to know, how to explain things to you.”

The youth looked aghast. “We’ll pray? When I ask, I pray to You. When you’re God, to whom do You pray?”

God gently replied. “I ask it of you.” And the youth was reminded of the wisdom of God.

-Helen Wehler

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EXAMINE ALL THINGS

The Human Dimensions Institute

Chartered in October 1969 as a non-profit corporation, The Human Dimensions Institute is the outgrowth of a program inaugurated by the alumni of Rosary Hill College, Buffalo, New York.

The newsletter of the Institute-Dimensions-explains the nature of the organization as being “among other things, one of a rash of developing Growth Centers which are experimenting with imaginative techniques for tapping of human potential and the restoration of balance to modern man.”

“Fifteen thousand years of civilization,” continues the newsletter, “have socialized, specialized, rationalized, and-now-computerized the human being to the extent that he has lost contact with large areas of physical, emotional and spiritual awareness within himself and of interaction with his environment.”

Three years of research indicate that man exists in and has the power to dispense energy patterns of which he knows but little. One of the goals of the Institute is to further investigate these forces and the creative use of the energies. “Ecology” is the term used to describe “these interacting and interpenetrating force fields, or energies. It is

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possible that every existent thing affects every other thing within a given-even infinite-periphery, to some degree.”

Research is planned on the present imbalance of soil, plant and animal interrelations. Other studies will be concerned with man himself who can wield wisely such physical energies only as he comes to understand what are presently considered non-physical forces. Investigations in the areas of psychology, parapsychology and metaphysics are scheduled.

The Institute brings to the public the results of its studies through lectures, seminars, study groups and workshops to encourage “the creative release of untapped human potentials.”

Sister M. Justa, Ph. D., researcher on the environmental factors that effect human enzyme activity, has published the results of her study of the “laying-on-of-hands” of a purported healer. Other research projects hopefully will remove from the controversial area many aspects of the human dimension.

It is the work of Growth Centers, such as the Human Dimensions Institute to help people overcome a dangerous and distressing one-sideness and to restore their sense of themselves as whole beings, interacting with their total environment.”

If the work of The Human Dimensions Institute appeals to you as another avenue of exploration in your search for a “better understanding of all men” we suggest you write to the Institute (Rosary Hill College, 4380 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14226 for further particulars.

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THE POWER OF ONE

FROM Dr. W, S. Fernando, founder of the Universal College in Pandura, Ceylon, has come an interesting letter. Dr. Fernando’s life is an exemplification of the truth that the dedication of single individuals, can have world wide results.

Dr. Fernando, 54 years ago, founded a private English speaking

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school in Ceylon. Its main objective, over and above the usual courses, was to teach “a Brotherhood of Nations, and to promote the doctrine of non-violence all over the world.”

In 1925 he started the Ahimsa Movement to ban the slaughter of animals for food. This movement has since then found support in many quarters of the world, and Ahimsa Week is celebrated the first week of May, yearly.

Then, in 1967, “in order to fight hunger throughout the world and to reduce the killing of animals for man’s food, I launched the World Wide Fruit Growing Campaign,” he writes. This program asks people everywhere to plant as many fruit trees as possible on May 1st at 6:30 a.m. every year. He suggests that groups contact nurseries and government agricultural departments for trees in quantity at minimal cost.

In addition to these major endeavors, Dr. Fernando distributes, with his personal correspondence, literature of other humanitarian groups.

Should you wish to contact Dr. W. S. Fernando to learn more of his, many works you may write to him at Universal College, Pandura, Ceylon.

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world report

Heated Soil for Farm Crops

Pacific Powerland Bulletin, 1969, No. 4

On a two acre plot, near Corvallis, Ore., scientists harvested bumper crops of corn, green beans, and other vegetables this summer. Such were the promising results of a study designed to test the effects of heated soil upon plant growth.

Today’s steam-electric generating plants produce enormous quantities of hot water, the disposition of which has posed an environmental problem. The test was designed to dissipate the heat by circulating the hot water in closed circuit underground pipes to promote plant growth.

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The Pacific Power and Light Company is sponsoring this two year research program which could be a boost to agriculture in the vicinities of such power plants.

Results indicate that plants in the heated soil grew better, matured earlier, and produced more than under normal conditions. Such heated soil would permit earlier planting, a longer growing season, and possibly two crops of certain vegetables yearly.

Scientists foresee farmers pooling their resources to build the underground pipelines, then purchasing the heated water much as they now do fertilizers.

Soviet Women Work for Peace

The Courier, Grants Pass, Ore., Nov. 24, 1969-by Gay Pauley

MOSCOW (UPI)-The word is peace. You hear it at every gathering with Soviet women.

Our group of women on a three-week tour of East Europe to meet informally with our counterparts raised our glasses with them to toast peace repeatedly.

We heard how women of the world must work together for that goal, that we drink to peace for our children and our families, of how women especially are a powerful force toward ending all war.

Peace through understanding of different peoples of the world was repeatedly mentioned. Valentina Nikolayeva-Tereshkova, the only woman ever in space, spoke of this understanding, too.

Miss Tereshkova, the wife of a cosmonaut, is chairman of the Soviet Women’s Committee, a powerful organization of women, organized initially in 1941 to fight Hitler’s fascist regime. Now it has branches throughout the USSR.

The group spells out the goals of the women thustly-“to actively participate in the women’s international democratic movement to ensure peace, national sovereignty, and equal rights for women and the well-being of their children, and to promote friendly ties between the women of the Soviet Union and other countries.

“Special attention is attached to efforts to safeguard and consolidate peace.”

Miss Tereshkova spoke to us of the hopes of peace and understanding as she welcomed the 30 U.S. women from government, business, the professions and the arts.

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Smoking Trees in Fiji

New Zealand Herald, Nov. 19th , 1969

SUVA-Fiji is puzzling over its version of the Biblical burning bush. Every evening for the last seven days two mango trees at Tavua on the north coast of Viti Levu have begun smoking for no apparent reason.

The black smoke begins rising about 6:45 each evening and continues for half an hour. Yet the trees show no sign of burning. A Fiji Agricultural Department official, Mr. R. Yarrow, is among those who have seen the smoking trees and he has no explanation of the cause.

Big crowds are gathering each evening to witness the phenomenon. Yesterday two Fijian boys were persuaded to climb the trees and reported that the smoke just rose from the leaves and twigs. There was no heat but a strong smell of burning rice.

The two trees stand some distance apart and are said to start and stop smoking simultaneously.

Magic Elastic

Auckland Star, Auckland, N. Z., Oct. 24, 1969

LONDON-A “Magic Elastic” developed by a British medical professor and a Canadian woman biochemist in London may help man to breathe underwater like a fish, save the lives of thousands of heart patients, help industry to save millions of dollars and cut air pollution. It sounds fantastic, but the two researches believe these are only a few of the uses to which the material may be put.

They developed the material over the last three years at the Royal Post-graduate Medical School, with advice and assistance from other universities and a silicone company. Said Dr. Burns: “It’s a rubber silicone membrane which is extremely tough and extremely thin. It allows only gases to pass through. No solutions, or fluids, or bacteria.

“In fact, it does the same job that our own lungs do.”

The membrane could help exploration under the ocean, she said. “What could be developed from this is a face mask with a tube, but instead of being connected to an oxygen cylinder it would be connected to an air filter, which would use the membrane.

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“The filter would allow oxygen from the water to go through into the tube and carbon dioxide to pass out. But no water would enter. “The diver would not be dependent on his capsulated oxygen supply. The ocean is full of oxygen.”

Dr. Burns said such an outfit would also prevent divers getting the “bends,” and this would allow them to move freely to and from different levels.

The researchers’ field, however, is the improvement of heart-lung machines and they got started on the silicone membrane virtually by accident.

Said Dr. Burns: “Present heart-lung machines work by bubbling air through the blood and they always cause some damage to the blood. I did some research on this under Professor Melrose, who is involved in open-heart surgery and who helped develop the first heart-lung machine in England.

“From the beginning he realized that what was required was a machine using the membrane principle.

“We set out to do research on possible damage caused by a machine with a membrane, but no one could produce material thin enough or strong enough to do the job.

“So we set out to do it ourselves. Now we are mass-producing it at the hospital. But we hope that a commercial firm will take over production.

‘When a machine using the silicone membrane is perfected, it will make heart surgery more efficient, and allow man more patients to be `operated on, even tiny babies.

The material also brings nearer the exciting possibility of artificial lungs to be used as transplants to replace diseased lungs. The problem now is how to package it and how to fit it into the human body.”

But Dr. Burns believes also that the new material could have widespread industrial and environmental application as well.

Asteroid Geographos

Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore., June 11, 1969

WASHINGTON (UPI)-A mini-planet on which man may someday hitch a space ride will flash past the earth Aug. 27 at a distance of about 5.6 million miles.

The little planet is the asteroid Geographos, a lump of space rock half a mile to a mile thick, the National Geographic Society says.

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Because of its importance to science and perhaps to the future of space exploration, the National Geographic has made two grants recently to enable astronomers to study Geographos as it makes its flyby of Earth.

One grant went to Dr. Samuel Herrick, astronomer at the University of California at Los Angeles, who hopes to pursue studies that will aid in the landing, survey, and even capture of Geographos for an earth satellite or space station.

The other grant was made to Mrs. Betty F. Mintz, an astronomer of the U.S. Naval Observatory, who will conduct observations of the small world from the Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

With the help of Mrs. Mintz’s observations and those of others, Dr. Herrick plans to improve predictions of Geographos’ orbit and thus make sure it won’t get lost, as various briefly glimpsed other asteroids have in times past.

Astronomers estimate that 50,000 minor planets whirl around the sun. The largest yet studied, Ceres, is about 500 miles in diameter.

Asteroids may be bits and pieces left over from creation of the solar system 4.7 billion or so years ago. They may be fragments of a planet which once circled the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and then for some reason blew up. Or they may be the debris from a collision of two planets long ago.

Space buffs have dreamed of putting men on asteroids to study them for science or mine them for industry or convert them into craft for exploration of interplanetary space.

Since asteroids have little gravitational pull, landing and takeoff should be easy. According to Herrick, an astronaut landing on Geographos shouldn’t sneeze at its tiny size. A sneeze would supply sufficient power to launch him right back into space again.

Mother Runs Saucer Bureau

Journal, Middletown, Ohio, September 14, 1969

By Ray Jones, Journal Staff Writer

Flying saucers in the sky above Middletown?

They’re up there, contends Mrs. Bonita Roman of Yankee Road. The reports have been so numerous she needs help checking them out. The pretty young mother of four children doesn’t look like someone intensely interested in unidentified flying objects.

She’s turned an upstairs room into an office complete with file

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cabinets, typewriter and telephone. From there Mrs. Roman collects reports, checks them out and puts together a flying saucer bulletin.

“For seven years I was content to read the pros and cons concerning flying saucers” she said. “But I became aware of too many flaws in the explanations.”

She can enumerate claims of area and local sightings so rapidly it is impossible to keep up.

She tells of an incident in 1952 when something “as big as a railroad boxcar “hung over the Middletown Federal Building for 30 minutes. The report claims the doors on the object were opened “like old fashioned cellar doors and light poured out. After half an hour the doors folded and the object departed.”

A few years ago a young man driving his car along Ohio 4 said he was chased by a 60-foot object above him in broad daylight.

Within the last year or two, she claims, a patrol car came upon a landed UFO in the Armco Association Park on Greentree Road. The object left a residue which was collected for analysis. Nothing farther has been heard about it.

Mrs. Roman also has heard about a flying saucer which landed along Dicks Creek. She has no further information about it.

“I’m not too interested in hearing about lights in the sky,” said Mrs. Roman, “but if an object is seen at a close distance for any period of time persons should call me at 424-2664.”

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WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

Everyone is an authority. This seems to be the position taken when investigating UFOs. Everyone knows the answers before the questions are asked. Proof of this statement? Look at the contactee stories. How many of them are believed outside of a small group around each individual? People want to believe the cloak and dagger mysteries where flying saucers kill. Psychologists will tell you people talk on the subjects that are on their minds the most. Read any newspaper or listen to any news broadcast-we hear news of wars, killings, riots.

Man loves excitement. Let’s develop excitement for the development of our psychic and spiritual qualities for the betterment of mankind

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and of ourselves! Achieve the brotherhood of man everyone talks about, but always leaves for someone else to do! Let’s dwell on the level of consciousness where we can step into space and be brothers with our UFO friends, show them, and ourselves, we are truly of God, and that we have the ability to live with peace in our hearts and towards other people.

Nearly all contactee stories say, over and over again, express your God given heritage and join the brotherhood of men and women everywhere in creation; live as an example of Cosmic Love. Help others in space, help people in this onward search for truth. Give, not receive. Isn’t this what our space friends want us to do? This is the theme of most contactees, but nobody wants to listen. The whole story is thrown into the realm of doubt, the whole message of the contact is missed.

We are moving into a world where the objective investigation will have to give way to the subjective investigation. We have risen to new standards of investigations-the era of being distrustful is ending.

We are going to have to learn to trust each other again, to live without hurting others. We are moving into a higher level of consciousness. Our UFO friends have been trying to tell us that. Our lives are no longer subject to threats, to pain over actions which seem incomprehensible.

Whether we like it or not, we are moving through space, are entering new dimensions, we are expanding our consciousness to do something that will be true for any era-Give, not Receive.

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UFOS INTERNATIONAL

High Tension UFO

(U.F.O.I.C. Newsletter, Sydney, Australia, July 1969)

The evening of April 21st, 1969 proved exciting for Mrs. D. Mostyn of Cronulla. When she stepped out onto her front verandah at 8:20 p.m. to see if her sons were coming home from work, there, 200 feet up in a clear starry sky and 75 years distant, was a solid whitish disc about the size of a weather balloon, with transparent top and four appendages like antennae protruding from the under section.

Mrs. Mostyn ran inside to tell her husband and they both watched the object, now with a bright light emanating from it, hover silently over high tension wires near the railway line. After five minutes,

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during which time it pulsated and alternated between solid and clear transparency, it moved away rapidly in a straight line, north east, toward the Pacific Ocean.

Mrs. Mostyn rang the Weather Bureau to ascertain if meteorological balloons were in the area at the time, but the officer in charge denied that possibility.

Over Japan

(UFO News, Official Publication of the Cosmic Brotherhood Association of Japan. No. 2, The publication is in Japanese except for an occasional news item in English, one of which we quote here.)

On the night of January 7, 1969 more than a hundred people in central and eastern Japan reported seeing as many as 20 fireballs, without sound, of various sizes, each with a long tail at about 8 p.m. Among the witnesses were the tower operator at Niigata Airport and ATC men at Osaka International Airport. Witnesses reported the objects were very bright and traveled faster than jets. The reports were rushed to Tokyo Astronomical Observatory and an official stated that the objects could not have been artificial satellites nor meteors-definitely UFOs. That night’s scheduled airliners, including Northwest Orient’s Boeing 707 jet and 7 other planes, reported seeing some of them in the sky of central and northern Japan, also.

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UNDERSTANDING, INC.

The Daily Courier, Grants Pass, Ore., published on November 24, 1969, the following article under its “Letters to the Editor.” It was written by Aleta O. Johnston, member of the Merlin Unit No. 1 of Understanding, Inc.

There has been a considerable amount of publicity in the Courier and on TV recently regarding the town of Merlin and its struggle to develop into a more livable and attractive place.

One event which will be of paramount importance to the future development of that area is the new International Cultural Center of Understanding, Inc., which is being established there by individuals who are dedicated to the dissemination of the truth which was promised many centuries ago to make men free. The main preliminary to such an establishment was the gathering together years ago of groups of inspired individuals who are seeking and promoting that truth. There-

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from an organization designated as Understanding was incorporated.. And over the years it has grown until it is now international in. scope. It is non-denominational, non-political and non-profit. Its principles are to establish a better understanding between peoples of this Earth and those not of this Earth. Its intents and purposes are to help, humanity to more fully comprehend the age-old admonition of “Man, know thyself,” which includes knowledge of body, mind and soul as well as his relationship to his fellowmen during his life here and hereafter. There are still Earthians who are so naive or misinformed as to believe the Creator of this vast universe was so partial to the planet Earth that it is the only one in this galaxy which is inhabited.

So for the purpose of bringing enlightenment on subjects pertinent ‘to the study and understanding of man and his universal environment the new International Cultural Center is being established in Merlin which is the headquarters for Understanding, Inc.

An adequate and permanent building has been built which will accommodate large or small audiences for lectures, classes or social gatherings. It is the first unit of many which will eventually be added.

The grand opening of the Center will be in June, 1970, at which time there will be international dignitaries in attendance, as well as other well-known personages and lecturers. However there will be meetings in the interim. Anyone who is interested will be welcome and can expect to reap personal benefits of understanding life more fully as well as meeting friendly like-minded people.

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Am I “Just a Member?”

Am I an active member, the kind who would be missed,
Or am I just contented, that my name is on the list?

Do I appear at meetings, and mingle with the crowd?
Or do I stay at home and squawk, both long and loud?

Do I take an active part, to help the group along,
Or am I satisfied to say that I “just belong”?

Do I ever go to visit a friend who is sick;
Or do I “let George do it” and gripe about the “clique”?

Here is a program for us, that means success if done
And we know it can be, with the help of everyone.

So let’s attend our meetings, and help with hand and heart;
Don’t be “just a member” but take an active part.

JANUARY, 1970 19

bulletin board

Cultural Center Report

During November and December volunteers worked almost daily at the International Cultural Center of Understanding. Now the building is painted, inside and out, and the two room guest apartment, with kitchen, is ready for occupancy.

In December the Merlin Unit held its monthly lecture-Rev. Aleta Johnston was the speaker-as well as its Christmas Party at the Cultural Center. Jack Schwarz used the building for a public lecture as well as for two weekend study seminars.

Already our International Cultural Center is becoming a needed focus for New Age activities and teachings. But your donations are necessary, and will be deeply appreciated, so that the building and its contents may actually belong to Understanding, Inc.

Thank You!

Sincere thanks from your Understanding Treasurer to Unit 1 of Merlin and Unit 76 of Klamath Falls, Ore., for generous donations to Understanding, Inc., for operational expenses. Such contributions are still much needed and appreciated. Thank you again.

UFO Hearings Report

Copies are available, priced at $3.00, of the Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects-Hearings before Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, 90th Congress, 2nd Session, July 29, 1968.

From Mrs. Howard Gay, National Librarian for the Understanding Library sponsored by Unit 37 of Buffalo, has come a long list of new books which are available for the use of all members.

Step up your reading program in 1970! Write to Mrs. Howard Gay, S3620 Eggert Road, Orchard Park, New York 14127, for titles now available.

Used Stamps

A report from the Washington State Council of Churches states the organization has realized an average of $9,000 per year, the past six years, from the sale of special cancelled stamps. The funds are used to provide food for hungry children, at home and abroad.

Please send your used special stamps to them. Needed are all commemoratives, small, rare stamps, documentaries, large Air Mails, duck stamps, special stamps as those of the U.N. Please do not send the ordinary small stamps, nor Christmas specials, which are printed by the billions. And, do leave a quarter inch margin around the stamps.

The address is: 2005 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, Wash. 98121.

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The editors of Understanding magazine are happy to consider unsolicited manuscripts, both articles and poetry. Articles should not exceed 1,000 words (poetry 36 lines). Almost any type of material will be considered, providing that it is of a constructive nature and contributes to a better understanding of the subject matter employed. The editors are particularly interested in developing a greater degree of understanding among different peoples of the earth and an understanding of basic issues facing the people of this planet. Payment for articles accepted will be made upon publication at the rate of one cent per word (poetry 10 per line). The editors also are interested in seeing clippings of unusual items from newspapers and magazines, for which the sum of $1 per clipping published will be paid to the first person submitting it. All manuscripts should be typewritten, double-spaced and on one side of the sheet only. Manuscripts may not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed envelope bearing sufficient postage.

Address manuscripts to Understanding, P.O. Box 76, Merlin Ore. 97532

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NOW AVAILABLE

by Dr. Daniel W. Fry

Steps to the Stars (4th printing)

Curve of Development

Both softbound $1.50 each

Also

White Sands Incident and

To Men of Earth

Hardbound  New Edition – $3.95

Atoms, Galaxies and Understanding

Softbound, $2.00

Hardbound, $3.00

Please add 15c for postage

Merlin Publishing Company

P. O. Box 105

Merlin, Oregon 97532

AVAILABLE

Advertise Your Books,

Activities, etc.,

in Understanding Magazine

Rates:

$8 per quarter page per month,

Three months: $16.50

Six months: $28

One year: $48

These rates are for additional insertions of the same copy. The charge for copy change is $3.00 per quarter page. For other rates, please write.

If proof is desired, copy must be submitted one month in advance of publication.